Although some popular political bloggers have waged war against news outlets in the country, it turns out that Filipinos don’t think “mainstream media” is as bad as some make it out to be. According to a study released on Thursday, a majority of Filipinos actually believe news is reported accurately.
Out of 38 countries surveyed, the Philippines ranked second as a country where “news media are doing very/somewhat well at reporting.” According to the survey, 86 percent of Filipinos believe this to be true.
The information comes from a survey done by U.S.-based Pew Research Center early last year that held face-to-face interviews with 1,000 Filipinos ages 18 years old and above.
Many agree that biased news is not acceptable, with 52 percent of Filipinos surveyed saying that news organizations should not favor one political party.
The study noted that people’s satisfaction with news media is related to their overall trust in the government. As an example, it mentioned how satisfaction in news media is highest in nations in sub-Saharan Africa, where government satisfaction is high, while satisfaction with news media is lowest in Latin America, where government satisfaction is low.
This rings true for the Philippines as well. A survey by local research institution Social Weather Stations released last month revealed that most Filipinos are still optimistic about the country’s economic future.
But despite Filipino’s trust in news media, many local news outlets are still criticized for allegedly spreading biased content.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte himself has accused the media of sensationalizing news stories about him, especially when it comes to his war on drugs. He did this while remaining mostly mum about his supporters that regularly share fake news.
Duterte even appointed his supporter, blogger Mocha Uson, as assistant secretary for the Presidential Communications Operations Office, even after sharing false news multiple times on her Facebook page followed by more than 5 million people.
Uson also regularly accuses mainstream media outlets of being biased against the administration and claims that many Filipinos don’t trust these news outlets anymore.
In an opinion piece published by The Philippines Star in February, Uson said that the public had a “growing distrust” for some traditional media and that these institutions are “gradually losing its credibility and the trust of the people.”
But given the data gathered by Pew Research Center, it turns out that’s not really the case.
